Unit Overview

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Essential Question: Is it a moral obligation to practice philanthropy?

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The overarching goal of this unit is for students to analyze texts from multiple genres that relate to philanthropy, practicing close reading to infer the author's purpose and to determine the kinds of evidence and strategies authors use to support a position. As they read, students will keep a four-column journal, collecting evidence from each text, always asking what each author adds to the conversation--how each author would respond to the essential question. Using collected textual evidence as support, students will write an essay that takes a position on the essential question.

Students will also practice philanthropy by completing a service project and creating a project board to showcase and reflect on the value of their project and how they personally benefited. Students will present their project in class in a formal presentation.

Discuss:

Is it a moral obligation to practice philanthropy? Discuss the meaning of the words "moral" and "obligation."

Word Study

• philanthropy
• obligation
• compassion
• frail
• barren
• Slang: half-nelson, icebox

Read: Anchor Text

Read the short story, "Thank You, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes
Is it a moral obligation to practice philanthropy? How would Hughes respond to this question?

Discuss Partner Pair-Share:

How would Hughes respond to the essential question? What text evidence supports this? What is your opinion?

Write

Handout: 5 Column Notes to Keep for all texts in this unit.

Project:

Start planning for your project. Start making desisions about whether you want to do something on a local, national, or world-wide level.

Class: Brainstorm

• Discuss "What is community service?" Write all answers on the board.
• Discuss motivation question, "Why would people want to do community service?" and have students write answers on the board. Aim for 20-30 reasons.
• Copy the reasons so we all have the same list. Each student circle your top 10 choices. (Students read their lists.)
• Students pick their most important reason for doing community service and explain.
• Break into small groups (4 to 5) and have each group come to a consensus on the 10 most important reasons.
• Have a spokesperson from each group report back to the class. See if the whole class can reach a consensus on the 10 most important reasons. Have the class write those 10 in their notebooks. It would be interesting to revisit these lists when they evaluate their experience at the end of the class.

Homework:

List 3 services you might want to do for your project. Be ready to discuss the 3 services next class period.